Ola launches vehicle buying platform ‘Ola Cars’ for new, pre-owned cars

Ride-hailing platform Ola has launched its vehicle buying service called ‘Ola Cars’ that will enable customers to buy new and used vehicles through the Ola app installed on their smartphones. The Bengaluru-based company is aiming at increasing the reach of the platform to 100 cities by next year. It will compete with players such as Droom, CarDekho and Cars24, among others.

The Ola Cars platform will initially offer pre-owned vehicles to customers and will gradually offer new vehicles from Ola Electric as well as other automotive brands. "Starting with 30 cities, Ola Cars will soon scale up to over 100 cities by next year," the company said.

The vehicle buying platform from Ola will offer a bunch of services such as vehicle purchasing, vehicle financing and insurance, registration, maintenance, vehicle health diagnostics, vehicle accessories as well as resale of the vehicle back to Ola Cars. "It will be a one-stop-shop for customers looking at hassle­-free buying, selling and managing their cars," the company added.

The company has appointment Arun Sirdeshmukh as the Chief Executive Officer of Ola Cars. He was formerly employed by Amazon India and Reliance Trends, and brings in more than 30 years of experience in the consumer internet, FMCG, retail and fashion industries. Sirdeshmukh will oversee the entire sales and distribution, service, marketing, customer support, and go-to-market strategy for the business.

With Ola Cars, the company hopes to bring a change in the archaic method of buying and selling of vehicles. “Customers are no longer satisfied with the archaic retail store mode. They want more transparency and a digital experience," said Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.

Ola plans to aggressively expand the new venture over the next few months across India and international markets as well as launch new verticals in the business such as pre-owned an d new two-wheelers platform.